A ''Kunstteich'' (plural: ''Kunstteiche'') is an historic German term for a man-made lake or pond associated with the

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

industry and its technology. These

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

s were created by the construction of barriers, typically

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

s and embankments, and were used to supply

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

and water to the mines. Water stored in the reservoir was used for a variety of purposes. It was used to turn

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous b ...

s that in turn drove the various mechanical devices used in mining in earlier centuries, such as

man engine A man engine is a mechanism of reciprocating ladders and stationary platforms installed in Mining, mines to assist the miners' journeys to and from the working levels. It was invented in Germany in the 19th century and was a prominent feature o ...

s. It was also used to produce power and drain the mines, or in the processing of ore. In principle, all ''Kunstteiche'' are small dam and reservoir installations. The oldest working dams in Germany are ''Kunstteiche''. Water is supplied to and transported away from the ponds either above ground in artificial channels ('' Kunstgräben'') or underground through so-called '' Röschen'', small channels in the mine galleries. If the water from ''Kunstteiche'' is used in the smelting (''Verhüttung'') of

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

they may be called ''Hüttenteiche'' or "smelter ponds". An extensive, surviving system of ''Kunstteiche'' and ''Röschen'' is the Freiberg Mining Area Water System ('' Revierwasserlaufanstalt Freiberg'') in the

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

in the former

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

mining region (10 ponds). Other very large systems are found in the

Upper Harz The Upper Harz (, ) is the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this geographical region may be defined differently depending on the context. In its traditional sense, the term Upper Harz cover ...

around

Clausthal-Zellerfeld Clausthal-Zellerfeld () is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The town hosts the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort is locate ...

(

Upper Harz Water Regale The Upper Harz Water Regale (, ) is a system of dams, reservoirs, ditches and other structures, much of which was built from the 16th to 19th centuries to divert and store the water that drove the water wheels of the mines in the Upper Harz region ...

, 65 ponds) and in the

Lower Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The nam ...

around Straßberg (Lower Harz Ditch and Pond System, 21 ponds with a capacity of 1.75 M m³).

Literature

* Otfried Wagenbreth, Eberhard Wächtler: ''Der Freiberger Bergbau: Technische Denkmale und Geschichte''. 2nd edn., Springer Spektrum Deutscher Verlag für Grundstoffindustrie, Berlin-Heidelberg, 1988, . * Wilfried Ließmann: ''Historischer Bergbau im Harz''. 3rd edn., Springer Verlag, Berlin and Heidelberg, 2010, {{ISBN, 978-3-540-31327-4. Water management in mining Hydropower Reservoirs

See also

Literature